Posted by Chuck(G) on September 21, 2001 at 11:26:40:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Copying music. A Crime? posted by Publisher on September 21, 2001 at 10:26:33:
Boy, you'd have a tough time prosecuting your first objection in any court. Public domain material is just that--material owned by the public at large. A publisher who decides to publish and charge for public domain material is essentially offering the buyer the convenience of purchasing the work already copied. Re-use and or copying, arranging and performance are all still governed by the public domain status of the original work.
Of course, this does not apply to copying any original work that the publisher may have inserted into the public domain material, such as commentary or illustrations.
Is it illegal to copy PD material? No! Unethical? Perhaps--it depends on your view of an individual profiting form material he does not own (the copier and/or the publisher). Wrong? That's one for the philosophers to debate.
I'll be delighted to be disabused of my opinions if you can you cite case law where someone was successfully prosecuted for copying works in the public domain.
But if we're talking ethics here, how ethical is it for a publisher to change a single note or typeface on a work scheduled to pass into the public domain and thereby claim a new lease on copyright?